Some of the key ingredient colour trends for the food sector including confectionery and bakery segments for 2019 will be bright yellow and deep orange shades, according to analysis from the GNT Group.

The Australian-headquartered natural ingredients business said that this year, consumers are set to seek out products that inspire upbeat, positive emotions and unite people with a feeling of joy.

Shoppers – particularly younger ones hailing from Generation Z (aged under 21) – will gravitate towards food and drink coloured with natural yellow and orange shades in order to tune into the optimistic sentiments they convey, GNT said.

Food and beverage brands are increasingly developing marketing messages that communicate the ability of their products to bring happiness to the consumer. Innova Market Insights has announced ‘I Feel Good’ as one of its top trends for 2019, noting that the number of food and beverage launches with a ‘feel good’ claim on the label increased by 36% year-on-year in 2017.

Maartje Hendrickx, market development manager at GNT, said: “In 2019 consumers will prefer food and drink that can arouse a sense of freshness and light, qualities that yellow and orange shades deliver. Just as pink was embraced by Millennials, Generation Z will channel the positivity of sunshine shades to sprinkle cheerfulness into their lives.”

GNT has harnessed this trend in a new collection of colouring foods – Exberry Sunshine Shades. Ranging from bright sunbeam yellow to warm harvest orange, they are all derived from raw materials rooted in nature, including pumpkin, carrots and turmeric.

The Sunshine Shades range has been developed as part of GNT’s new Love Colour with Exberry initiative for 2019, which will explore how colour can influence mood and deliver feelings of excitement and contentment, while also satisfying adventurous, curious consumers who are keen to discover new experiences. Market experts The Food People recently identified ‘Mellow Yellow’ as a key trend[2] and observed that “colour trends are becoming as important as the food and drink itself.”

Maartje Hendrickx added: “Natural yellow and orange colouring foods fit perfectly with the desire among consumers to re-connect with the natural world. We are planning some exciting activity in 2019 to maximise engagement with Sunshine Shades, with innovative product concepts and technical information in the pipeline. We will also be busy showcasing feelgood application ideas on the Exberry Instagram feed – @gntgroup – and on the GNT Group Linkedin page.”

The well-established Exberry colouring foods series consists of natural colour ingredients obtained exclusively from fruits, vegetables and edible plants using gentle, physical processes such as pressing, chopping, filtering and concentrating. Consequently, they are not classed as additives but foods with colouring properties and, therefore, qualify for cleaner and clearer labelling declarations. Made with GNT’s own innovative processes, they can impart almost any colour shade to foods and beverages and are ideally suited for industrial use.